Quote:
Originally Posted by Spyderman
But what makes it supposedly recover less energy as the race goes on are the batteries, and Toyota are going to a battery system next year. How does that make sense?
Anyway, Ginger said it better than I.
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Batteries are electro-chemical reactors. There are irreversible side reactions and changes to microstructure that occur in the anode and cathode materials "just because". These side reactions are sped up when temperatures are elevated (aka heavy load, high discharge rates). The side reactions permanently destroy sections of the battery on a micro - nano scale. Since the capacity is function of the amount of useful anode and cathode material, you get reduction of capacity.
Now this is not something that cannot be overcome. If your battery is over designed (aka larger, heavier) then the amount of stress you are putting through it to run an LMP1 for 24 hours car really doesn't hurt the battery. But when you run at the limit in order to reduce weight, the battery is stressed.